A Geographical Map of Zi

[Falcarius]

The franchise does use the words "iron" and "steel" a lot (Iron Kong and Bonds of Steel being obvious examples), but that could be more poetic than literal. The only specific fictional substances I can remember from the Zoids franchise are Deochalcum, Zoid Magnite, Leeo/Metal-Zi, "Rare Metal", and the Giga's "ancient titanium alloy". (Side note: Generations specifically states that Metal-Zi is only really useful for its ability to cut through Hell Armour, since it's no harder/lighter/stronger/whatever than other, more common metals.)

(LATE EDIT: According to Murasame Liger's box, Metal-Zi is the hardest metal on Planet Zi. Probably should have checked Genesis sources instead of just Generations >_> )

I should probably point out that you can get mountains and volcanoes without plate tectonics (see Olympus Mons, for instance), but you generally don't get long straight ridges of them. Also, the general lack of craters on Zi (compared to any terrestrial planet besides Earth) is a clear sign that its surface is being recycled by subduction. ...Come to think of it, where are all the craters from the Grand Catastrophe? The damage to Nyx and Delpoi seems to be in the shape of lines, not circles (more evidence for plate motion?) Then again, King Goj's box describes the craters as "dozens of kilometres across", which would be practically invisible on a world map. I guess the meteors themselves probably didn't do much damage compared to the side effects of losing a moon...

[CeilYurei]

Metal Zi almost sounds like a substance simialr to stainless steel, since the fact the balde of the murasame Liger was used as a decoration for hundreds of years and was completely rust free. And the point of it was in bare ground. ANd it's possible the dozens of meteors hit along ancient fracture lines in the plates, "breaking" the continents into smaller piecees.

It's possible the continents move SLOWER on Zi. And what bugs me more is there's no debri from the small moon anywhere in orbit, unless it supposedly all got vaporized on reentry. Either way, that comet probably saved zi from a much worse disaster, since a few dozens of kilometer across crater can be caused by a small asteroid. but I'm sure if the entire moon had crashed down intact like it was eventuaally going to do it would probably have destroyed ALL life on the planet.

[SteelRain]

So in looking back, I wasn't hugely thrilled with the terrain texture on my first pass (actually second, I'd already done a pass before the one I posted here), so I started again. After chatting to Falcarius I did modify the shape of Delpoi to be more in line with its appearance in the official maps, geometrically accurate or not. The texture is much more drastic than would actually be visible from space, but hey, art. I'm much happier with the impression it gives.


Once again, click to embiggen. Apologies for the .jpeg compression ugliness, imgur can't handle .pngs that big.

[lordofdragons]

That's quite the detail there. You picked this up from the sources or did you add the details in following your artistic feeling?

[SteelRain]

Thanks! The continents and most mountains are drawn from official sources (albeit, in the case of the northern- and southern continents, from a very very small official map that is replicated nowhere else), and from there I worked out wind directions, which gave me the biomes of each area. The mountains on the eastern, southern and northeastern continents are entirely made up for lack of source material. There's also a bit of fudging to add in some of the canonical deserts and forests, as going purely by the winds several of the deserts actually be lush forest and vice versa, but oh well. Lots of the small islands were added to fill out the seas, too.

Here's the map I worked from for the overall layout of the continents, adjusted from a sort-of equirectangular projection to Winkel Tripel;

(translations by Falcarius)

[Maethius]

Nice work! What the heck is up with Turk?! Never heard of it, and the landmass is blank?

[SteelRain]

Thank you! Turk isn't mentioned anywhere else but that map as far as I can tell, and I'm guessing it's blank because the map is tehnically just of Nyx. As to why they included it at all in that case, your guess is as good as mine.

[Falcarius]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's only named on that map (and the almost-identical one from Official Fan Book 3). It does get a little bit of flavour text, though (you can see where I blanked it out) - apparently the Guylos Empire originated in the ancient city of Troja, but then the Grand Catastrophe split Turk from Nyx and the continent (sub-continent?) is now abandoned. That might also explain why it's blank (that, and the fact that it's probably mostly ice...)

[Leon35]

A few years back I made a custom that originated from the idea of making Zoids from the metals of the meteorites that sank the Dark Continent.

Now I want to make Zoids that would have adapted to the icy conditions on the Dark Continent of Turk.

Really cool map and some great info here

[SteelRain]

Thanks, Leon! Cold-adapted zoids sound pretty cool. Maybe the Iron Kong Yeti and the Mirage/Snow Fox were made for Turk operations?

[lordofdragons]

Cold-adapted zoids... I guess I need to add another hazard type

[dannyk]

Wait. Wait. TWO Dark continents!? Then isn't it possible some zoids aren't extinct/unredevopable? Also I refuse to beleive the Sally is totally gone in terms of ability to create more.

[SteelRain]

Apparently so! I haven't found any official media other than that particular map showing the 'expanded' Zi, but it's what I chose to work from. As for 'extinct' zoids, the wild forms may not be extinct, but if the designs/blueprints/manufacturing capabilities for the artificial ones were lost then it would be a case of reverse engineering. I always thought the whole 'rocks fall, zoids die' thing was silly, but with the King Gojulas and the Descat and what-have-you they had written themselves into a corner with their absurd ratchetting-up of power levels. Also it was an excuse to bring back the older, more popular kits.

[dannyk]

Jan 26, 2017 14:22:42 GMT -5 SteelRain said:

Apparently so! I haven't found any official media other than that particular map showing the 'expanded' Zi, but it's what I chose to work from. As for 'extinct' zoids, the wild forms may not be extinct, but if the designs/blueprints/manufacturing capabilities for the artificial ones were lost then it would be a case of reverse engineering. I always thought the whole 'rocks fall, zoids die' thing was silly, but with the King Gojulas and the Descat and what-have-you they had written themselves into a corner with their absurd ratchetting-up of power levels. Also it was an excuse to bring back the older, more popular kits.

Yes but they wiped out the Sally too, a republic zoid...supposedly it's Wild ZOid went extinct. Which just feels dumb.  

[Falcarius]

I don't think it was the meteors themselves that did most of the damage, so much as the loss of a moon causing magnetic storms and tectonic upheavals all over the place. But yeah, the fact that the Grand Catastrophe wrecked Zi's ecosystem and killed off most of the larger Zoids is a pretty fundamental element of the NJR Battle Story.

Apparently wild Salamanders are only "on the verge of extinction" though (according to Official Fan Book 3), and they were a rare species to begin with. They _could_ make more, they just can't mass-produce them. Come to think of it, I don't think they ever name any 100% extinct wild species - there's only one Ultra Saurus and no Death Saurers left as of 2100, but those are the Combat Zoids, not their wild forms. (It's implied that the only wild Deathy cores are in a state of apparent death, though.)